“Everything you say, Reichenau, is totally unmilitaristic.”
To Walther von Reichenau. Quoted in "Hitler's Generals" - Page 210 - by Correlli Barnett - History - 2003
Friedrich Wilhelm Ernst Paulus was a German general during World War II who commanded the 6th Army. He attained the rank of field marshal two hours before the surrender of German forces in the Battle of Stalingrad . The battle ended in disaster for Nazi Germany when Soviet forces encircled and defeated about 265,000 personnel of the Wehrmacht, their Axis allies and collaborators.
Paulus surrendered in Stalingrad on 31 January 1943, the same day on which he was informed of his promotion to field marshal by Adolf Hitler.
Hitler expected Paulus to commit suicide, repeating to his staff that there was no precedent of a German field marshal ever being captured alive. While in Soviet captivity during the war, Paulus became a vocal critic of the Nazi regime and joined the Soviet-sponsored National Committee for a Free Germany. He moved to East Germany in 1953.
“Everything you say, Reichenau, is totally unmilitaristic.”
To Walther von Reichenau. Quoted in "Hitler's Generals" - Page 210 - by Correlli Barnett - History - 2003
“You are talking to dead men here.”
To a Luftwaffe officer sent to Stalingrad. Quoted in "Voices From The Third Reich: An Oral History" - Page 152 - by Johannes Steinhoff, Peter Pechel, Helmut D. Schmidt, Dennis E. Showalter - History - 1994
Adolf Hitler, about Paulus surrendering instead of committing suicide.
Radio message to Adolf Hitler, January 31, 1943. Quoted in "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany" - Page 931 - by William Lawrence Shirer - Germany - 1990
To A. Schmidt and others - February 4th, 1943. Quoted in "Report of the Special Section of the Don Front NKVD to Special Sections Department of NKVD USSR"
Radio message to Adolf Hitler, January 24, 1943. Quoted in "The World Changers" - Page 171 - by Bruce Bliven - 1965
Report about Friedrich Paulus by German Army soldier in 1927
“A very clever man though perhaps not a very strong character.”
Erich von Manstein to Leon Goldensohn, June 14, 1946.